The Most Frightening Story Ever Told Read Online Free PDF

small canal, which was overrun with rats.
    “And the rats certainly don’t make it smell any better.”
    They walked along a stone path at the side of the stinky canal. The stone walls were covered with wet slime and a sign that read THIS WAY TO THE FORBIDDEN BOOKS ABOUT MAGIC AND SPELLS .
    All the time the organ music grew louder.
    At the end of the path there was an arched doorway, but just before they turned to go through, something vaguely human and as slimy as the walls came out of the black water of the canal and slapped a fishy-looking arm onto the path in front of Billy. Billy let out a yell as the creature burped loudly several times and made a grab for his ankle.
    “Yikes,” said Billy, jumping clear of the creature’s scaly hand. “Is that one of the surprises?”
    The creature grabbed at Billy again. Its eyes were huge and staring and its teeth as sharp as a shark’s. Then, still burping loudly, the creature slid back into the water.
    Mr. Rapscallion laughed and showed Billy how standing on one of the slabs of stone operated a pneumatic pump that pushed the creature, which was made of rubber, clear of the water and onto the path in front of them.
    “Ingenious,” said Billy.
    “Come on,
Billy,
” said the shopkeeper, hurrying through the arched doorway. “Our resident Phantom only plays three organ pieces before he leaves,
Billy.
”
    Billy smiled. This was the first time Mr. Rapscallion had used his name. Until now he had only ever called him “sonny” or “kid,” which made Billy feel just a little like a goat. But the fact that Mr. Rapscallion had used his name was almost enough to make Billy believe he might actually have made a new friend.
    Billy followed Mr. Rapscallion through the arched doorway and found himself in a large subterranean library. There were ancient-looking globes, map tables, more candlesticks and tall shelves full of leather-bound books, some of which were as big as a car door. Everything was covered with yards of cobweb. In a huge fireplace an enormous log was burning. But dominating the room was a large church organ and playing it was a figure dressed in old-fashioned evening clothes.
    That would have been remarkable enough in Billy’s eyes. But there was much more to come.
    As soon as Mr. Rapscallion and Billy entered the subterranean library, the figure playing the organ turned around abruptly and stopped playing. The room was not well lit and Billy found it hard to decide if the organist was wearing a mask or a hat. Billy had just decided that it must be a mask when the organist’s head caught fire like an enormous candle and, cackling wildly, the figure jumped up and ran straight toward Billy and Mr. Rapscallion. If the bookseller had not been standing right next to him, Billy felt certain he would have turned and fled in terror.
    As it was, Billy stepped quickly behind Mr. Rapscallion. The laughing organist sprinted past them, its black evening cape flying in the breeze of its own making, and the flame from its pointed head trailing like the tail of a blazing meteor.
    “Yikes,” said Billy.
    For a moment, the organist paused in the arched doorway, pointed, it seemed, straight at Billy and said, in a loud, bass voice, “Beware, Billy. Beware!”
    Then he disappeared around the corner, in a cloud of smoke and gasoline vapor.
    Plucking up his courage, Billy chased after him.
    He stopped in the doorway, peered carefully around the corner and was horrified to find the organist standing there. A split second later, the still-flaming head dipped down to Billy’s level. It was close enough to singe the boy’s eyebrows and for his flaring nostrils to detect a strong smell of lighter fluid.
    The organist laughed a horrible, loud laugh that seemed to generate more heat and once again spoke to Billy. “Beware, Billy. Beware!”
    Billy shrank back and then curled around the corner to shelter in the comparative safety of the other side of the wall.
    “Yikes,” he